Reading Eagle business stories are train wrecks

By Steve Reinbrecht

How silly are these stories in the Reading Eagle’s business weekly?

They give the ideas that business is great in Berks –“Reading might become an inland rail port!” 


Actually, the train story isn’t that bad, but the headline and presentation are ludicrous, and add evidence that the editors pitching and picking stories at our watchdog institution are clueless, or are following some strange agenda other than doing journalism about Berks County, but they have to pretend to do journalism. It’s that hypocrisy that irks me so.

Like this train story. The section cover has a magnificent picture of train cars in Reading and the top headline: “Reading: An inland port designation?”

And over the story: “Reading: a future inland port?”

But the news, such as it is, is all about Bethlehem, 40 miles east, in Northampton County, which possibly, someday, maybe will become an inland rail port, and then vaguely how it’s better for everybody to ship stuff on trains not trucks. [The Eagle loves to write about what MIGHT happen, because then it doesn't have to nail down facts, which is hard work, facts such as, what did Mayor Spencer actually do in 2014, or harder yet, say he was going to do but didn’t?] 

The first mention of Reading is in the story's 19th paragraph:

Berks County has a lot of great stuff, but nothing like its neighbors

by Steve Reinbrecht
[I reported this in August.]

Premise: We want people to come to Berks County.

We want the best workers to work in our businesses.

We want people to visit and spend money and go home and tell friends how much fun they had in Greater Reading.

We want smart young people to come and study here and maybe stay and start businesses and families.

Reality: We have to work hard to attract people here.

At this point, we don’t have the jobs to lure many employees. In fact, more than 40 percent of Berks workers commute to jobs outside the county, according to 2011 statistics. 

We don’t have nationally ranked colleges.

We don’t have blockbuster attractions like neighboring counties do, such as the Valley Forge Casino next door in Montgomery County or an amusement park like Dorney Park, with Steel Force, the ninth longest steel roller coaster in the world. Longwood Gardens, in Chester County, had 1.1 million visits in 2013. Valley Forge National Historical Park gets 1.3 million visitors a year.

But maybe Berks doesn’t have to be a regional powerhouse in education or tourism or even employment.

“Be careful what you wish for,” said Berks County Commissioner Mark Scott. Many people like the quiet life here, prefer cornfields to development, and are happy to drive an hour to ride a roller coaster, he said.

“People who live here don’t feel deprived of a Dorney Park.”

Reading Eagle story demonstrates local lack of interest in health of poor people

By Steve Reinbrecht

Reading needs another health center to serve poor people, so the city housing authority is planning to open one.

That’s right, the Reading Housing Authority, which runs the public housing programs. Not Reading Hospital, of West Reading, whose mission is "to provide compassionate, accessible, high quality, cost effective health care to the community; to promote health; to educate healthcare professionals; and to participate in appropriate clinical research."

Why did the Reading Eagle newspaper bury this story on Page B7? Making sure poor people get good health coverage is important. Ask people in Dallas, where a hospital ER sent home a man with the Ebola virus.

Of course, providing good primary care to everybody is not only an edge against global epidemics. It also makes good business sense, to ensure healthy employees and customers. 

Why is the housing authority working on a health-care center and not the Reading Hospital? Why isn’t the hospital system taking more interest in basic health care in Reading?
Reading Hospital has more ER visits than any other hospital in Pennsylvania. It had more than 133,000 visits in 2013, or an average of 15 an hour, around the clock.

But eight hospitals had more admissions. That make it look like the hospital has too many ER visits. The hospital greatly expanded its ER a few years ago. Maybe it should have spent the money on primary care in the city.

From Reading Health System annual report 

Reading Health System employs 7,300 people, has an annual budget closing in on $1 billion, is building a $350 million surgery building, and has purchased most of the physician practices in the area.

Nevertheless, Berks County doesn’t have enough primary-care doctors, according to the federal government, which designated us a “health professional shortage area – primary care” in August 2012. 

The hospital’s emergency room has become a de facto 24-hour clinic, but at high cost. Reducing the number of unnecessary emergency-room visits would cut medical expenses for everybody.

Many young parents have told me of nights spent waiting in the ER when their children get sick. They are clueless about how to get a family doctor.

According to the Eagle story, 93 percent of the residents’ visits to the ER were for routine care such as disease management and getting prescriptions.

But Reading Hospital apparently is not acting to fill the need. In 2012, the hospital pulled out of its clinic on Penn Street, turning it over to the Greater Berks Health Center, which had about 6,000 patients in 2013, only 10 percent of whom were on private insurance.

St. Joseph, the other Berks Hospital, does run a “family and women’s care” center downtown.

I sent my questions to Reading Hospital’s media office:

• What is Reading Health System’s involvement in plans for a health center to serve poor people in the Oakbrook public-housing development?
• Why was nobody from the Health System mentioned in the story? Was a representative there?
• How much did the Health System provide in 2013 to the Greater Berks Health Center on Penn Street?
• Does the hospital have counselors in the emergency room to meet people while they are waiting for care to explain about getting primary care instead of using the emergency room?
• How does the hospital try to reduce unnecessary ER visits?
• What percent of ER visits are non-emergency?

On Oct. 2, a woman in the office said she’d work on them for me, but I hadn’t heard from her again as of Friday Oct. 10.

In my paranoia, I worry the hospital wanted to give the newspaper a chance to spin the story. 

It’s more likely that no one with any influence really cares about the health needs of poor people in Reading. No, maybe Dan Luckey, head of the housing authority, does. And if anyone can do this he can. 

And I don't know anything about where to put health care centers. But I know these issues should be discussed more publicly.

Google's algorithm for news in Berks County demonstrates the news judgment of local media.